Statement of Faith

Scripture

We believe the Bible (the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments) is the written Word of God. As a "God-breathed" revelation, it is verbally inspired and completely without error (historically, scientifically, morally, and spiritually) in its original writings. While God the Holy Spirit supernaturally superintended the writing of the Bible, that writing nevertheless reflects the words and literary styles of its individual human authors. Scripture reveals the being, nature, and character of God, the nature of God's creation, and especially His will for the salvation of human beings through Jesus Christ. The Bible is therefore our supreme and final authority in all matters that it addresses.

Creation

We believe that the physical universe, the realm of nature, is the visible creation of God. It declares God's existence and gives a trustworthy revelation of God's character and purpose. In Scripture, God declares that through His creation all humanity recognizes His existence, power, glory, and wisdom. An honest study of nature -- its physical, biological, and social aspects -- can prove useful in a person's search for truth. Properly understood, God's Word (Scripture) and God's world (nature), as two revelations (one verbal, one physical) from the same God, will never contradict each other.

God

We believe in one infinitely perfect, eternal and personal God, the transcendent Creator and sovereign Sustainer of the universe. This one God is Triune, existing eternally and simultaneously in loving community as three distinct persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. All three persons in the Godhead share equally and completely the one divine nature, and are therefore the same God, coequal in power, nature, and glory.

Person of Christ

We believe that Jesus Christ is both true God (the second Person of the Trinity) and true human (the Incarnate Son of God). We also believe in the great events surrounding Jesus Christ's life and ministry, including: His eternal preexistence, His virgin birth, His attesting miracles, His sinless life, His sacrificial death on the cross, His glorious bodily resurrection from the dead, His ascension into heaven, and His present work in heaven as Great High Priest, Representative of Humanity, and Advocate. He will return in glory to resurrect and judge all humankind.

Person of the Holy Spirit

We believe that the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity, is indeed a Divine Person, coequal with the Father and the Son. We also believe in the ministry of the Holy Spirit in salvation, a ministry which includes anointing and glorifying Christ, convicting people of their sin, bringing about the regeneration of lost sinners, indwelling believers, and empowering them for godly living and spiritual service.

Humanity

We believe God created humankind in His image and likeness (having rational, moral, relational, and spiritual capacities) to fellowship with Him, to give Him glory, and to reflect the character and nature of God to God, to each other, and all creation. Human beings are therefore the crown of God's creation (possessing inherent dignity and moral worth), and thus distinct in kind from all other life on earth. Adam and Eve, the first human beings, chose to rebel against God and go their own autonomous way. As a result, all of humankind became separated from God, the image of God in humans became distorted, and the sinful nature passed on to all their descendants. In the sin of the first humans, not only are human beings separated from God but every key relationship for which we were made has been fractured, namely humans to God, humanity to itself, the relationship between man and woman to each other, Human beings to creation, and the creation to itself. Because of original sin (which includes both corruption and guilt), unregenerate human beings are incapable of restoring these fractured relationships or commending themselves to God by their own efforts or on their own merit. The only remedy for humanity's predicament is redemption through faith in Jesus Christ.

Sex and Gender

We believe that, while God has revealed Himself in Scripture through the use of male gendered personal pronouns, God is not a gendered being in the same sense that human beings are. In the beginning, God created human beings as male and female, both being created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27), posessing equal value, dignity, and worth, and yet remaining distinct from each other in their embodied gender. We also recongnise however, that the distinctives between male and female are not limited to physical attributes but also extend to distinctives in the way we think, see, process, and understand our experience of our life and world. As both males and females are made in the image of God to reflect the character and nature of God to God, to each other, and to all creation, we believe that there is something unique about a female that reflects the character and nature of God in a way that is distinct from a male. Conversly, we also believe that there is something unique about a male that reflects the character and nature of God in a way that is distinct from a female. As one man and one woman come together in the covenant of marriage (Genesis 2:24, Malachi 2:14-15, Mark 10:6-8, Ephesians 5:31)) we get a more full understanding, a more complete image of who God is. This in turn influences our understanding of how God relates to His people the Church (Eph 5:22-33), as well as  giving a demonstration of how we are to live together under God's order and design as human societies. This understanding is intended to promote human flourishing. Human beings are created by God to a specific design and for a specific purpose set out by Him at creation. This design order has been made clear in nature and is made understandable to us as a gift of common grace. It is therefore encumbant upon us as His creatures to glorify and give thanks to our God by living in accordance with the design order with which He has embued His creation. We recognise that in a broken world full of broken and sinful people such as ourselves, human desires are in need of recalibraiton to our design parameters. We therefore celebrate all who bend the knee to Jesus, who accept His Lordship over us, who trust Him that all He says about Himself, about us, and about reality is in fact true, and believe He is therefore trustworthy. We celebrate those whom in so recognising, out of their love and gratitude to God, choose to live their lives in obedience to Him, seeking to honour Him in all things that their lives would be seen as an act of true and faithfull worship to the True and Living God as revealed in Christ.

Redemption

We believe God has acted sovereignly to bridge the gap that separates humankind from Himself. He sent His Son, the promised Messiah of Israel, born of a virgin, attested to by the prophecy of scripture, by miracles and by a sinless life, to bear the full consequences of humanity's sin. Jesus Christ willingly suffered and died in the place of sinners as our substitute. Jesus, though innocent, took upon himself the wages of our sin, which is death. This saving act of the Triune God in the person of Christ forever stands as the all sufficient sacrifice for sin, effecting true reconciliation between God and humanity for those who believe. In the atoning death of Christ, both God's love and God's justice are fully manifested. In living out His life in a manor entirely consistent with the character and nature of the Father, the righteousness of Jesus perfectly fulfills the law of God. That righteousness has been graciously credited to all believers. Redemption is solely a work of God's grace, received exclusively through faith in Christ, and never by works of human merit.

Resurrection

We believe Jesus Christ rose bodily from the dead, conquering sin, death, and all the powers of Satan. The resurrection is God's historical affirmation and vindication of Jesus Christ's unique identity, mission, and message. Historical evidence of the resurrection is manifest in Christ's empty tomb, His many resurrection appearances, and in the emergence of the Christian church. Jesus Christ now resides at the right hand of the Father, and lives to indwell all who recognize their sinfulness, who repent, and who turn their lives over to His authority.

The Church

We believe the church is the spiritual body of Jesus Christ (its Founder, Head, and Shepherd) and that it encompasses all true believers at all times and places. The function of the church is to carry out the Lord's expressed will through the power of the Holy Spirit. One of the central purposes of the church is to preach the Gospel (in both word and life), the good news that humankind can find salvation from sin through faith in Jesus Christ. All people who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ for salvation belong to the church and are, thus, the people of God. This community of believers is made up of people who are neither perfect nor sinless, but by grace their lives are being transformed by the Holy Spirit, so that they may be ever more fully conformed to the character of Christ as a result of fellowship with Him in the Spirit.

Future Things

We believe the Lord Jesus Christ will return to this earth, personally, bodily, and visibly to establish his glorious reign in a kingdom that will never end. As the sovereign Lord, He will resurrect and judge all humanity. Those who have chosen to put their faith in the saving work of Christ on the cross, receiving His offer of life through the Gospel, will enjoy an eternal relationship with God in the new creation; those who have rejected it, to eternal conscious separation from God and all His goodness in hell. We look forward to the blessed hope, Christ's Second Coming in glory.

The Great Commission

We believe Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation. And since Christ has commissioned His people, the church, to go into all the world to disciple, to baptize, and to teach everyone everywhere to obey His Word, we desire, by His grace, to play our part in reaching the world with the Gospel of Christ.